The technique was made famous by Evil Dead director Sam Raimi, who had almost no money at all for effects, and put a camera on a board strung on ropes between two people, running it through the forest, to represent the unspeakable horror terrorizing his cast. In Evil Dead 2, we finally get to see the monster, and it is appropriately horrific. Though the trope itself is played for laughs, as Ash runs away from the camera and we see scenes where the camera looks towards Ash as he runs, and reveals that he's literally running away from nothing.

Raimi's name for this contraption was Shaky Cam (after SteadiCam), which is why Shaky Cam redirects to this page. Not to be confused with non-Raimi-style uses of Jitter Cam, which is often also called "Shaky Cam" in non-TV Tropes contexts for similar reasons.

In the original Halloween (1978) when the young Michael Myers lurks through the house and murders his older sister.

During the climactic shootout of True Grit, there's a brief shot from Rooster's POV while he's charging towards his enemies on horseback. The results are so shaky and nauseating it would appear they actually strapped a camera to a horse and started filming at full gallop.

Live-Action TV

Too many Doctor Who episodes to count. Most famously, it was used for the first shot of a Dalek ever shown! In the old days, this trick was often used to postpone the reveal of the monster's face until the Cliffhanger while still allowing the monster's involvement in the plot — see "The Silurians" and "Robot" for just a couple of examples of stories shot that way. It remains in common use in the revival series, including first revealing the Dalek to us in this manner in "Dalek", as a direct Shout-Out to their previous debut — similarly, "Asylum of the Daleks" has an Homage Shot to the P.O.V. Cam scene in "The Daleks" in the final part of the episode when Oswin attacks the Doctor. "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances", "Tooth and Claw", and "The Lazarus Experiment" are just a handful of other revival stories that use it. Torchwood likes to do it too.

Used for the smoke monster on Lost as it approaches Eko in "The 23rd Psalm." It appears again for a POV of the Monster crossing the Island in "The Substitute".

The Fox series Werewolf opened with a surreal monster's-point-of-view stalk through a nightclub parking lot, with "Silent Running" playing in the background. Very 80s.

It shows up in the first season finale of True Blood, when Lafayette is kidnapped.

Supernatural uses this kind of shot and a special lens to represent the hell hounds, who are always invisible. Mostly used in "No Rest for the Wicked" (the Season 3 finale) and "Abandon All Hope" (Season 5).

Likewise in Metal Gear Solid, in the boss fight against Psycho Mantis entering First-Person View mode would show you his POV rather than yours, helpful for finding him after he'd turned invisible. That is, of course, unless you're on the PSX or PC version and are not using the joystick (or first controller port).

The Siren games actually use this as a mechanic: Most of the playable cast have the capacity to 'Sightjack' the Shibito around them, allowing them to see where they are and what they're doing from the Shibito's perspective. It's also used to scare the bejeezus out of you, since you'll sometimes activate it and catch a glimpse of yourself from the Shibito that you didn't realize was stalking you. In the second game this is expanded by granting different characters unique secondary powers linked to Sightjacking, from being able to Sightjack people from the past in important places, down to fully possessing the Shibito in question.

Used in the intro for Discworld Noir, complete with Scare Chord and all. Noticeable due to the fact that the main character is actually caught and killed.

In the Beginning of Left 4 Dead there's a scene shot from the POV of a hunter pouncing on poor Louis.

The turn-based strategy game Incubation features this during the alien monsters' turns.

God of War has a fun twist on Raimi vision, as you get to watch Kratos massacre Poseidon in first person. The twist? You get to watch from Poseidon's Point of view. The sequence ends when Kratos gouges out his eyes. And yes, you get to see that from first person.

Psychonauts has the Clairvoyance power do this for you. Useful for telling how other people perceive you, as well as dodging an invisible boss's attacks.

An earlier stage has the player running an obstacle course while the boss (providing the camera for this stage of the encounter) pushes a "safe zone" (or, at least, a "don't die instantly zone") along the course.

Web Original

LoadingReadyRun likes playing with this trope in their "X Ways to Y" segments - all of them include "The Sam Raimi," which involves (increasingly ridiculous as the videos go on) a point of view... thing... chasing one of the characters - sometimes to do... something... to them, other times to do things such as hand them a soda.

Western Animation

The Bill Plympton animated short, High Noon which shows a showdown from the point of view of a bullet.

Played for Laughs in an episode of Phineas and Ferb where the boys are shooting a movie starring Candace. Phineas explains that they need a Raimi Vision shot so he had taped a camera to a starving monkey, he then hands Candace a banana and the monkey chases her as the audience watches in Raimi Vision. In the next scene Candace looks beat-up and Phineas says that in order to shoot the scene again safely, he taped the camera to a starving Ferb instead, then hands Candace a sandwich. Cue the exact same Raimi Vision scene as a shrieking Ferb chases Candace.

In the South Park episode "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow", the town panics and flees from global warming, which is depicted attacking townspeople through first person perspective. It's Played for Laughs when the camera switches back to third person perspective.

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